By Joel Clement July 19 at 4:10 PM

Joel Clement was director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the U.S. Interior Department until last week. He is now a senior adviser at the department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue.

I am not a member of the deep state. I am not big government.

I am a scientist, a policy expert, a civil servant and a worried citizen. Reluctantly, as of today, I am also a whistleblower on an administration that chooses silence over science.

Nearly seven years ago, I came to work for the Interior Department, where, among other things, I’ve helped endangered communities in Alaska prepare for and adapt to a changing climate. But on June 15, I was one of about 50 senior department employees who received letters informing us of involuntary reassignments. Citing a need to “improve talent development, mission delivery and collaboration,” the letter informed me that I was reassigned to an unrelated job in the accounting office that collects royalty checks from fossil fuel companies.

I picked out this singular point of yours, because it seems like a very common issue getting worse over time.

The professional class has been rather successful at pushing a definition of "progressive" that is in line with their own interests. It's now mostly restricted to social issues, with SJW being the fringe element of it. Economic issues? Gone. Welfare issues? Gone. Foreign policy issues? Gone.

If you look at it that way, Obama has been good to the managerial class, the credentialed class, the professional class, the Silicon Valley types, the affluent liberals, everyone who was already profitting from the neoliberal status-quo. The rest, not so much. The opiod epidemic in the US, born out of mass despair, combined with your excuse of a healthcare system, is class warfare, plain and simple. "Die faster" is the message coming from not just the establishment, but also the professional class, aimed at the plebs, the servant class, the deplorables, the white trash, everyone not inside their bubble.

I've had more success in discussions by making it clear from the get-go that social victories mean very little when you are too poor to enjoy any of them. Your progressive issues mean nothing to me if you still insist on neoliberal economic policies that are a tool of class warfare against the poor.

It's as clear as day in France this days. The liberal intelligentsia calls you scum if you don't support Macron, the darling of the elite, who is liberal on social issues, but a hardcore neoliberal on economic issues. A spokesperson of the Melenchon campaign described his policies as "the Uberization of society", something in clear opposition of what the left stands for.

Describing my views as left rather than progressive or liberal has also helped in these discussions.

But no training is better than a surprise attack by your roommate/servant : https://youtu.be/IA8QrOAghZ0

Ummm.....so Tillman slandering his colleague and Tillman throwing the first punch...ignore that and blame the victim who called Tillman a liar for spreading lies on the senate floor and on the record about his fellow senator while they weren't present to defend themselves? I don't get that at all, both verbally and physically, Tillman was the clear instigator (and a piece of shit).
The rule had nothing to do with his blatant racism and everything to do with the personal insults and the fist fight on the Senate floor that involved numerous senators when it was done. It was to stop Tillman from repeating his personal attacks, not to stop his colleague from defending his own reputation from Tillman's slanderous lies by calling them lies, as I read the record.
Edit: don't take me wrong, I'm not arguing against your contention that some may have said protecting Tillman was the reason for the rule, or even that they meant it, just that, logically, it doesn't make a bit of sense.
I think the rule is proper if they change it to slander, not just apt but unbecoming description, and certainly not a reasonable interpretation of their actions as a public servant. Lies shouldn't be accepted, no matter what lies or about whom....imo.

All that said, I like the idea of calling it the Tillman rule and claiming it was created with the intent of protecting racists from having their public records made public.

Franklin, as an ELECTED public servant, has consistently represented his constituents well enough to be re-elected.
Betsy Devos has never held office, never run a loan organization, never run an educational business, been hyper critical of the department she is tapped to run, and doesn't understand the issues this office entails at all, much less have a grasp of the details involved in the life changing decisions she'll be in charge of making, AND she refuses to answer questions when she knows her answers look terrible AND she has not yet finished her application (they've conveniently ignored the ethics forms nominees fill out BEFORE they get a hearing, so she shouldn't receive a hearing at all yet, like the rest of the nominees, which clearly indicates they have something to hide that would disqualify them all). In fact, it's obvious that she's only been nominated because her family bought the post with $200,000,000 in donations to Republicans and her vocal push to privatize education (but not it's funding, leaving us with something like our quasi-privatized prison system), meaning the Republicans plan to hand her the post with no real hearings and no matter how incompetent and unprepared she is....she already bought it, the hearings are just a formality.
...so no, not at all the same.

I've not seen any real proof that having a royal family living in the palace is a deal-breaker for tourists. And so I've also never seen any proof that they provide a net gain to the country because they get fecking millions in subsidies, security, and all the land and positions they own 'by divine right'.

They royalty are public servants - you would never catch me bowing to any of them, or treating them any differently than i would a stranger - respectfully, as equals.

As far as i'm concerned, they've got the luckiest life in the world by birthright, which goes completely against everything i believe in. So they better do a lot of charity work and never complain about it - which to be fair they have done, but only because they know they're on thin ice and will be summarily dethroned if they act up. Especially at a time like this.

Man, I'm suuuper late to this party....
Anyways, Die Hard is and is not a Christmas movie at the same time. And it depends on your definition what makes a Christmas movie.
I'm gonna take an insane detour here that'll make sense.
Is Star Wars Episode 4 a science fiction movie?
That setting is futuristic, sure, must be sci-fi then. Lasers, Spaceships, Robots, the works. The checklist is done. Sci-Fi.
But what are the themes it touches upon, what is the story?
A young farmer's boy (naturally an adoptred orphan) named Luke is dragged into a rebellion against an evil king (Palpatine) by accident. When the boy get's hold of a pretty princess' (RIP Carrie Fisher) message to an old ally and menthor (Obi) through the fault of her two comic-relief servants (Robot-slaves), he decides to seek the adventure he's yearning for. He finds the old man (by fucking up) and both seek the next harbor to board a ship to join the resistance. The hire smuggler/pirate/bandit/nerfherder Han and his foreign friend Chewie and cross paths with the black knight Lord Vader, the evil kings enforcer. Hijinks ensue, princess rescued, the magic castle/ship/train of the evil king get's destroyed and everyone gets a medal.
What's exactly sci-fi here?
That could play out in medieval times. Or ancient greece. Or the wild west. Or on Christmas.
The setting and the genre are two different things and both determine what you'll label a story with.
Alien is a horror movie, a slasher. Aliens is a war movie. Alien³ is a horror movie of the animal-gone-maneater kind. Alien: Resurrection is a disaster movie (hihi).
They're all sci-fi, like Star Wars. Because of the setting.
Now look at Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Episode 9 'The Measure Of A Man'.
Lasers, spaceships, robots, the usual. What is it about?
A Robot who's so sophisticated that he has to go to trial to prove he's not property but a real boy. Sure, you'll say, I've seen Pinocchio and I can see african men argue the same stuff in the 18th century. The point of the story is not only that is humanity is questioned, the point is he's an artificial lifeform. The question is not only 'What makes you a person?' but also 'When does artificial intelligence become an artificial person?'
That shit won't work in a setting without spaceships and robots. That's sci-fi because of its story.
So, setting and story are both what makes you label a movie a certain way but they're not the same.
Die Hard. Happens on Christmas. Could be Thanksgiving too. Setting interchangeable.
Story? Doesn't contain any christmas-related themes beyond two estranged family members become closer again. That could happen at a funeral as well.
I'm in my mid-thirties and I love Die Hard. It's one of the best 80's action movies. I can watch it anytime and I've seen it at least 20 times (noit joking here). But mostly in the summer. But I understand the question and its diverse answers perfectly well.
Die Hard is a christmas movie if it feels like one to you. For me, Lord of the Rings (especially Fellowship) feels like a Christmas movie to me. I've seen them all in theatres in December, I watched them on VHS and Blu-Ray only in December so far. They have fuck all to do with the occasion but this year was the first one I didn't watch any of them in December. And I feel I missed something this year. I'm not sure I can watch them at this time of the year.

I would absolutely call it a prank. It's the 'you're in big trouble...nope, gotcha!' prank.
I'm a taxpayer...I mind. I'm sick of public servants using public time, funds, and equipment for their personal enjoyment as if they weren't being paid to work or supplied with equipment for a public purpose. That's not what I over pay my taxes for.
The police constantly whine about being over worked and under staffed, every one of these videos is another nail in that argument's coffin.
Who's to say he's not ignoring a call? That's an assumption not based on information.

It boils my blood to see almost daily examples of 'public servants' murdering unarmed civilians. I saw no gun, and I don't trust the police to not plant one. These days, if it's not clearly on video, the cops might as well stay silent. I don't trust a word they say...one reason I can't serve on a jury. I only wish more people would realize that police are professional liars, and should never be trusted without incontrovertible evidence to back their story up.
One more tragedy caused by police over reaction and fear. I often wonder why no family member ever comes to their family's aid with their ar15. Self defense includes defending family members.
If someone shoots my spouse in my driveway, I'm shooting them, no matter who they are or why they shot her. I'll say the same for my dog. She's more valuable to me than the average human.

Shouldn't, but because they so consistently kill unarmed people, then support the killings with a blue wall, the success is no longer up for debate, they're failing. That doesn't mean they don't do good, or should be abolished, it means eradicating the culture of 'us vs them' that comes FROM police at every turn....starting with prosecutions. I'm glad to see that's the case here.
Agreed, there needs to be a system of third party oversight, or special prosecutors for all police misconduct cases, and prosecutions for obstruction for officers that don't help in those prosecutions.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can protect an African American male from being shot by police....hands up don't shoot has gotten a pretty large number killed since it became a slogan. Nothing but being a non black male decreases your chances of being shot...not even being 12.

Cops should have to justify pulling their gun at all, it should trigger an alert at the station and start a live stream from their cameras, accessible by the public (but maybe with a day's delay so there's no chance of interference) which should be always on and a felony to tamper with. I can't fathom why the body cams can turn off, or why they aren't live streamed to a public server...the videos are public property, like any product of a public servant.

Just a servant...nobody at all. I mean, we have a household with at least -three- gods, and -they're- afraid of the feathered one. What chance does a hairless ape have in that crowd?

They all should have prepared better for the test TBH. Inflicting pain on purpose or through bad technique is not a great idea.

Most of the "pain" for the dad is from keeping his watch and his ring on. Fairly unprofessional overall.

Good job to manoeuver through all the psychological obstacles, but meh training IMHO. That said it is better to have a good person as trainer, than an exceptionally able bad guy.

Also martial arts dont make you a slave, they make you a servant and you get to choose who or what to serve.

We've seen what the police really do, and it's unacceptable - that's his point. It might be better than in the 1950's* - fuck you, it might be better than in the 1200's for all I care - the point is that right now it's not as good as America deserves. America doesn't deserve perfection, but for all the tax dollars it spends on police, for all the freedoms it surrenders to government, it deserves in return a police force that won't shoot unarmed citizens once a week. Maher cares what the police actually do - that's why he's saying this.

*Also, even though some of the issues you raise have improved, we've also seen steady police militarization since the 1950's, both in the training and in the equipment police are given. In some ways that means things have gotten worse since the 50's - many cops on the streets now see themselves as roving tactical assault units, rather than boring civil servants.

I'll just take the opportunity and quote from Hunter S. Thompson's comment on Richard Nixon's death:

"If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin."

Yeah, I'll just quote this...

"Truman did not cower at the mention of the word “socialism,” which in those days was distinguished in the minds of most Americans from Soviet Stalinism, with which the president—a mean cold warrior—was wrangling.

Nor did Truman, who counted among his essential allies trade unionists like David Dubinsky, Jacob Potofsky and Walter Reuther, all of whom had been connected with socialist causes and in many cases the Socialist Party of Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas, rave about the evils of social democracy.

Rather, he joked that “Out of the great progress of this country, out of our great advances in achieving a better life for all, out of our rise to world leadership, the Republican leaders have learned nothing. Confronted by the great record of this country, and the tremendous promise of its future, all they do is croak, ‘socialism.’”"

You are like a small child afraid of the monster in the closet when, in reality, there is nothing there. Do public servants like police/fire brigade etc draw pensions on retirement? That's socialism. Capitalism says that they are at the end of their useful life, and if they haven't saved for their retirement, fuck em.

And let's not even get started on christianity (love they brother and money is the root of all evil), damn Jesus and his socialist bullshit... X D